Tangentially related: it's a pity there aren't more websites like this one: [0]

It's nice to compare different translations in-line. The last line of section 3 is an excellent example of how different translations can be: [1]

Enchiridion is well worth a read (I gather Carter has the best translation but I've gleaned this from places like Reddit so pinch of salt!), and I also enjoyed Derren Brown's Happy [0] which draws heavily on stoicism, summarising a lot of famous works on it as he goes.

[0] - https://enchiridion.tasuki.org/display:Code:ec,twh,pem,sw/se... [1] - https://enchiridion.tasuki.org/display:Code:ec,twh,pem,sw/se... [2] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30142270-happy

I have the following;

1) The translation by Gregory Hays is the most accessible. Get the "Modern Library" hardcover edition. Has a nice introduction and notes.

2) The translation by Martin Hammond in "Penguin Classics" is also very good. Has detailed introduction and notes.

3) The translation with detailed notes by A.S.L.Farquharson is considered one of the definitive ones. Get the hardcover published by "Everyman's Library".

4) Finally there is a good translation by Robin Hard in "Oxford World's Classics". Robin Hard has also translated Epictetus "Discourses" and hence you may find his work unifying.

I did a pretty deep survey of the various translations (there are a lot) and landed on Maxwell Staniforth's as the best balance between readability and faithfulness to the original language. It's a fairly straight translation rendered in modern-enough English, unlike some of the older ones which add difficulty due to the age of their language, pointlessly, since it's a translation anyway and they're (obviously) so much more recent than the original that they are in no way contemporary so there's no claim to be made on that merit, as one might for, say, a 19th century translation of Jules Verne.

I think the only hardcover is from Folio Society, so medium-pricey as fine books go, but his translation's also the one used by at least some editions of the work from Penguin Classics, so, cheapish paperbacks. I'm having trouble verifying which editions of theirs are his translation, but it may be all of them.

Hay's translation is the only one I found readable. The rest as you found out are full of archaic verbosity.

I think the Gregory Hays translation is the most readable and "modern."

I have seven translations. I really like the Grube one.